Cemeteries and different burial places have been contemplated from the beginning of time. The human race has always desired the best ways to respect and bury their dead. Final disposition preferences have changed over the centuries from primarily full body casketed burial to the increasing popularity of cremation. The type of burials too have changed, with options ranging from full body casketed burial, full body entombment, cremated remains inurement, burial or scattering, to more elaborate forms of burying, enclosing or memorializing the deceased, and the like.
Today, the most common types of final disposition are cremation and full body casketed burial or entombment. In more recent times, cremation has become increasingly popular. The cremated human remains are typically placed inside a cinerary urn for permanent storage and presentation. Typically, urns are inurned at cemeteries inside a columbarium, mausoleum, in-ground burial plot, or housed within various types of memorialization product and property. Alternatively, families can choose to scatter the cremated remains or store them at their home or the like. Alternatively, full body disposition involves the burial or entombment of a full body; and includes the use of a casket, a burial plot, and grave-marking tombstone or memorial. The human remains are prepared for burial, entombment or inurnment, placed in a casket or cinerary urn, and either lowered into the ground, entombed in a mausoleum, inured in a columbarium or the like. A gravestone or memorial is placed on top of or affixed to the burial or memorial site to mark where the deceased is located or memorialized. Cemeteries and memorial parks typically are parks with trees, grass, and other park-like structures. Some cemeteries are located on church grounds or other holy sites. In some instances, cremation remains can also be placed at these similar locations.
However, few significant developments have been made in the cremation, cemetery and funeral industry for displaying dynamic information about the deceased. One way of displaying information about a deceased individual is to carve the information directly onto the individual's headstone or gravestone. The information provided can give some idea of the individual's personal life, hobbies or other information that can immediately denote some characteristic or personal trait of the individual, however a more typical application is to provide basic location marking information such as name, date of birth, date of death, and a short epitaph. Beyond placing inscriptions or affixed plaques on a tombstone or memorial, it tends to be very difficult to identify characteristics about the individual that can have identified their personal traits, interests, or hobbies.
What is needed, therefore, is a dynamic, multi-touch enabled display device that enables visitors to interact with the memorial of a deceased individual for the purpose of interacting with a combination of dynamic and customizable digital touch media and content relating to the decedent or the remembrance of the decedent. There is a growing demand for personalization and the current technology and products utilized in application of memorialization do not address these demands.
While the present disclosure is subject to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof have been shown by way of example in the drawings and will herein be described in detail. The concepts provided herein should be understood to not be limited to the particular forms disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.